1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a straw chopper and in particular a chopper having a housing that is provided with a chopping region and a discharge region, a chopping and conveying element arranged in the housing, and a distributor having several guide vanes for the transverse dispersal of the chopped straw. The discharge region of the housing can be pivoted about a first axis relative to the chopping region of the housing and the distributor can be separately pivoted about a second axis relative to the chopping region of the housing.
2. Description of Related Art
GB 2 165 732 A describes a chopper for a combine that has a rotationally driven chopper shaft with knives attached thereto and a housing enclosing the shaft and knives. The chopped straw is ejected through an ejection housing to which several guide vanes are fastened. The ejection housing is supported in bearings so as to pivot about the chopper shaft. The lower wall of the ejection housing forms at least a part of the bottom of the chopper housing in all pivotal positions of the ejection housing. In this way the ejection conditions should remain constant at all pivoted positions of the ejection housing. To enable the straw to be deposited in swaths for later collection, the chopper may be mounted to the combine to move forward relative to the combine body. This creates a large free space through which the straw can reliably fall to the ground from the combine. Mounting the chopper in this manner results in additional cost but has the advantage that when the chopper is moved forward, the ejection housing does not interfere with over-the-road transport of the combine with the header towed behind the combine. To avoid the added cost of a movable chopper, in most cases the chopper is rigidly connected to the combine. Upward pivoting of the ejection housing is required for over-the-road transport of the combine with the header towed behind the combine. However, sufficient upward pivoting of the ejection housing cannot be performed due to the position of the center of rotation of the ejection housing.